MB BHU f i LOST. The mind through all her power* Irradiate, there plant eyes, all mist from thence Purge and disperse, that 1 may see and tell 01 things invisible to mortal sight. Jf'ruut. Sssy LOKDOW ! AND EDWARDS, PKI1TTI.BS, CHAJfDOS STErET COYEKT GABDEN. PREFACE, IN preparing the present edition of Milton's poetical works, I have laboured under the somewhat difficult task of trying to give a good deal of matter in a very small space. A writer like Milton, whose whole style is fraught with allusion, and who, like Propertius, is perpetually aiming at making erudition subservient to poetry, draws largely, not only on the present feelings, but likewise on the memory of his readers. And yet, so noble are Milton's imitations — so frequently does he surpass the model— so perfect is the mould, so exquisite the chisel with which he recasts the idea of an earlier brother in the art, that it is ever a pleasing study to compare passage with passage, word with word, and to marvel at the process which has refined many a crudity, softened and Christianized many a thought, which wanted Christianity only to give it greatness. The able annotations collected or written by Bishop Newton, have done so much towards showing what Milton imitated, and how he could imitate, that I cannot lay credit for much originality in the notes now submitted to the reader. If I have any regret, it is, that there is an unfor tunate law of dimensions which prevents the possibility of compressing the contents of four rather substantial octavos into a volume of the size and price which, in these book- buying days, is almost inseparable from popular success. But I hope that what is given will be found plain and useful, and that few readers will go away unsatisfied, as far understanding the meaning of the poet is concerned. rl THE FACE. As to the text, I have almost invariably avoided the dis cussion of various readings, partly from .want of space, partly because I had no wish to give a practical lesson on the uncertainty of criticism. No man who has ever written a " copy of verses" (whether in canine Latin, bad English, or otherwise) can be ignorant how easy it is to substitute one word for another, or to correct for the better or the worse. A few rather obvious corrections have therefore formed the limit of my efforts, as far as criticism is con- earned. It is a vain task to try to praise Milton, after so many better critics have exhausted the theme ; but I may, perhaps, be permitted to say a few words respecting the value of his writings as a lesson in English, the language probably most neglected by Englishmen, and most cared for by Milton. Milton drew on the classical and Con tinental languages with unsparing freedom. He culled ac curacy from one language, brilliancy from another, and quaintness from the archaisms of a third. His style waa thoroughly educated; he used words not according to con vention, but with a strict reference to their derivation and primitive meaning ; and if he sometimes sacrificed power t)b refinement, he never suffered himself to write vulgarly in order to be thought to write down to the popular " style of the day." Milton's eccentricities of language are often nothing more or less than struggles after correctness. Even in the spel< ling of words, he has a scholastic reason for the variations he takes from popular practice. His writing are a fine and a speaking lesson to those who imagine that poetry may set grammar at defiance, and that wanton transgression of everything like sober writing is a first-rate, if not a suffi cient credential to the court of the Muses. THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY. London 1853 CONTENTS. PARADISE LOST s. 1 PARADISE REGAINED , S03 SAMSON AGONISTES 356 POEMS ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS : — I. On the death of a fair infant 407 n. Anno oetatis xix 409 in. On the morning of Christ's nativity 412 iv. The passion , 419 v. On time 42i vi. Upon the circumcision... 422 vii. At a solemn music 423 Vin. An epitaph on the Mar chioness of Winchester. 424 ix. Song on May morning... 420 j x. On Shakspeare ib. XI. On the university carrier 427 xn. Another on the same ... i!>. xin. L' Allegro 429 xiv. II Penseroso 433 xv. Arcades 433 xvi. COMUS, a Mask 443 xvn. Lycidas 474 xvm. The fifth ode of Horace. 480 Ad Pyrrham, Ode V. ... 481 Xix. On the new forcers of con science under the Long Parliament ib. SONNETS — i. To '.he nightingale 483 ii. Donna leggiadra, &c. . . ib. vi Qual in colle aspro, &c... 484 SONNETS — Canzone 484 iv. Diodati, &c ib. v. Per certo i bei, fcc 485 vi. Giovane piano, &c ib. vn. On his being arrived at the age of twenty-three. 486 vm. When the assault was in tended to the city ib. IX. To a virtuous young lady. 487 x. To the Lady Margaret Ley.... ib. xi. On the detraction which followed upon my writing certain treatises 488 xn. On the same ib. xin. To Mr. H. Lawes on his airs 489 xiv. On the religious memory of Mrs. Catherine Thom son, my Christian friend, ib. XV. To the Lord General Fairfax 490 xvi. To the Lord General Cromwell ib. xvii. To Sir Henry Vane the Younger 491 xvni. On the late massacre in Piemont ib. xix. On his blindness 493 xx. To Mr. Lawrence ib. XXI. To Cyriac Skinner 493 xxn. To the same ib. xxin. On his deceased wife ... 494 viii CONTENTS, Psalm I 495 Psalm II ib. i Psalm III 496 Psalm IV 497 Psalm V 498 Psalm VI 499 Psalm VII 500 Psalm VIII 502 Psalm LXXX ib. Psalm LXXXI 504 Psalm LXXXII 506 Psalm LXXXIII 507 Psalm LXXXIV 508 Psalm LXXXV 510 Psalm LXXXVI 511 Psalm LXXXVII 513 Psalm LXXX VIII 514 A paraphrase on Psalm CXIV 516 Psalm CXXXVI ib. JOIIANNIS MILTONI LONDI- NENSIS POEJIATA 519 ELEGIARUM LIBER PRIMUS — Elegia prima 524 Elegia secunda 526 Elegia tertia 527 Elegia quarta 529 Elegia quinta 532 Elegia sexta 535 Elegia septima , 538 ElUGRAMMATUM LlBER — In proditionem bombardi- earn 541, la eandem ib. In eandem ib. In eandem 042 In inventprem bombardae ib. Ad Leonoram Romae Ca- nentem ib. Ad eandem 543 Ad eandem ib. Apologias de rustico et hero ib. SYLVARUM LIBER — In obitum procanceliarii medici 544 In quintum Novembris ... 545 In obitum Praesulis Eliensis 551 Naturam non pati senium. 552 De idea platonica quemad- modum Aristoteles in- tellexit 554 Ad patrem 555 Ad Salsillum, poetam Ro- manum, aegrotantem ... 558 Mansus 559 Epitaphium Damonis 562 Ad Joannem Rousium Oxoniensis Academias Bibliothecarium 56? Ad Christinam suecorum reginam nomine Crorn- welli .,.,, 670 U^M t,fi~tytttiast fust. BOOK I. THE ARGUMENT. This First Look proposes, first in brief, the whole subject, Man's dig- obedience, and the loss thereupon of Paradise wherein he was placed : then touches the prime cause of his fall, the serpent, or rather Satan in the serpent ; who revolting from God, and drawing to his side many legions of angels, was by the command of God driven out of Heaven, with all his crew, into the great deep. "Which action passed over, the poem hastens into the midst of things, presenting Satan with his angels now fallen into Hell, described here, not in the centre (for Heaven and Earth may be supposed as yet not made, certainly not yet accursed), but in K place of utter darkness, fitliest called Chaos: here Satan with his angels lying on the burning lake, thunderstruck and astonished, after a certain space recovers, as from confusion, calls up him who next in order and dignity lay by him ; they confer of their miserable fall. Satan awakens all his legions, who lay till then in the same manner confounded ; they rise, their numbers, array of battle, their chief leaders named, according to the idols known afterwards in Canaan and the countries adjoining. To these Satan directs his speech, comforts them with hope yet of regaining Heaven, but tells them lastly of a new world and new kind of creature to be created, according to an ancient prophecy or report in Heaven ; for that angels were long before this visible creation, was the opinion of many ancient fathers. To find out the truth of this prophecy, and what to determine thereon, he refers to a full council. "What uis associates thence attempt. Pandemonium, the palace of Satan, rises suddenly built out of the deep : the infernal peers there sit In council. OF Man's first disobedience,1 and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Brought death into the world, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, 1 Milton has proposed the subject of his poem in the following verses. These lines are perhaps as plain, simple, and unidorned, as any of the whole poem, in which particular the author has conformed himself to the example of Homer and the precept of Horace. His invocation to a work, which turns in a great measure upon the S MILTON'S POETICAL \VORKC>, s • -5 -20 Sing heavenly Muse, that on the secret1 top Of Oreb, ov of Sinai, didst inspire That shepherd,2 who first taught the chosen seed, In the beginning how the Heavens and Earth Kose out of Chaos : or if Sion hill Delight thee more, and Siloa's3 brook that flowed Fast by the oracle of God, I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aonian mount,4 while it pursues Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. And chiefly Thou, 0 "Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for Thou knowest ; Thou from the first Wast present, and with mighty wings outspread ireation of the world, is very properly made to the muse who in spired Moses in those books from whence our author drew his subject, and to the Holy Spirit who is therein represented as operat ing after a particular manner in the first production of nature. This Whole exordium rises very happily into noble language and sentiment,, as I think the transition to the fable is exquisitely beautiful and natural. — Addison. 1 Endless difficulties have been raised respecting this epithet, which, to us, seems perfectly clear and appropriate. The poet evidently refers to Horeb or'Sinai (the two heights, be it remem bered, of one mountain. See Calmet in voce, and Lepsius, Disco veries in Egypt, note F, p. 444, sq.), as the place where the Almighty held conversation with Moses, when there was " a thick cloud upon the mount" (Exod. xix. 16), and when the people were forbidden " to break through unto the Lord to gaze, lest they perish." — C£ xii. 227. " God from the mount of Sinai, whose gray top Shall tremble, he descending." Compare Robinson, Biblical Researches, v. i, p. 129 — " Our convic tion was strengthened that here, or on some of the adjacent clift's, was the spot where the Lord ' descended in fire,' and proclaimed the law. Here lay the plain where the whole congregation might be assembled ; here was the mount that could be approached, if not forbidden ; and here the mountain's brow from where alone the lightnings and thi<:k cloud would be visible, and the thunders and the voice of the trump be heard." 3 Moses, Cf. Exod. iii. i. 3 A small river near the temple of Jerusalem. — Cf. Is. viii. G. 4 ». e. above what other poets have attempted ; the Aonian Mount in Bceotia being popularly supposed to be the haunt of the Muses. PAH.ADISB LOST. What time his pride Ilad cast him out trom heaven. ol. PARADISK LOST. Dove-like satst brooding ' on the vast abyss, And made it pregnant : what in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support ; That to the height of this great argument I may assert eternal Providence, Ajidjustify-tli*-waysj2£OQd ^o. men. Say first, for Heaven hides nothing from thy vie\r, Nor the deep tract of Hell ; say first, whafrcause Moved our grand parents, in that happy state, Favoured of Heaven so highly, to fall off From their Creator, and transgress his will For one restraint, lords of the world besides * Who first seduced them to that foul revolt ? _ TV infernal Serpent ; he it was, whose guile, Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind, what time his pride Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host Of rebel angels, by whose aid aspiring To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equalled the Most High, If he opposed ; and with ambitious aim Against the throne and monarchy of God Kaised impious war in Heaven, and battle proud With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition, there to dwell In adamantine chains and penal fire, Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms. Nine times the space that measures day and night To mortal men, he with his horrid crew Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf. Confounded though immortal : but his doom Reserved him to more wrath ; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain Torments him : round he throws his baleful eyes, That witnessed huge affliction and dismay Mixed with obdurate pride and stedfast hate : At once, as far as angels' ken, he views The dismal situation waste and wild ; A dungeon horrible on all sides round : From Genesis i. 2, "And the Spirit of God brooded upon the waters" (IJebrewX 4 MILTON S POETICAL WORKS. B. I, 'i—H As one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames No light, hut rather darkness visible1 Served only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all ; hut torture without end StDl urges, and a fiery deluge, fed . With ever-hiMning sulphur unconsumed : Such place eternal Justice had prepared For those rebellious, here their prison ordained In utter2 darkness, and their portion set As far removed from God and light of Heaven, As from the centre thrice to the utmost pole.3 Oh, how unlike the place from whence they fell ! There the companions of his fall, o'erwhelmed With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, 1 Milton seems to have used these words to signify gloom: absolute darkness is, strictly speaking, invisible ; but where there is a glooin only, there is so much light remaining as serves to show that there are objects, and jet that those objects cannot be distinctly seen. In this sense Milton seems to use the strong and bold expression, dark ness visible. — Pearcc. Seneca has a like expression, speaking of the Grotto of Pausilypo, Senec. Epist. Ivii. Nihil illo carcere longius, nihil illis faucibus ob- ecurius, quee nobis prsestant, non ut per tcncbras videamus, sed ut ipsat. And, as Mons. Voltaire observes, Antonio de Solis, in his ex cellent History of Mexico, has ventured on the same thought, when speaking of the place wherein Montezuma was wont to consult his deities ; " It was a large dark subterraneous vault, says he, where some dismal tapers afforded just light enough to see the obscurity." See his Essay on Epic Poetry, p. 44. So, too, Spenser, F. Q. i. 1. 14. " A little glooming light, much like a shade." — Newton. 2 Dr. Bentley reads outer here, and in many other places of this poem, because it is in scripture, TOGKOTOQ TO iZ&Ttpov, but utter and outer are both the same word, differently spelled and pronounced. Milton, in the argument of this book, says, in a place of utter darkness, and nowhere throughout the poem does the poet use outer. — Pearce. Spenser justifies the present reading by frequently using the word utter for outer, as in Faerie Queen, b. ii. cant. ii. st. 34 — " And inly grieve, as doth an hidden moth The inner garment fret, not the outer touch." — Newton. 8 i. e. thrice as far as it is from the centre of the earth (which is the centre of the world according to Milton's system, ix. 103, x. 67J ) to the pole of the world ; for it is the pole of the universe, far beyond the pole of the earth, which is here called the " utmost polt ." — Newfan. •.I. 78— 116. i'A!'..\!'!SK LOST. He soon discerns, and weltering by his side One next himself in power, and next in crime, I/MICJ aft.T known in Palestine, and named . - To whom the Arch-Encmv , And flii'iM-p in Heaven called Satan,2 with bold words Breaking the horrid silence thus began. 44 If thou beest he ; but oh, how fallen ! how changed From him, who in the happy realms of light Clothed with transcendent brightness didst outshine Myriads though bright ! If he whom mutual league, United thoughts and counsels, equal hope And hazard in the glorious enterprise, Joined with me once, now misery hath joined In8 equal ruin : into what pit thou seest From what height fallen, so much the stronger proved He with his thunder : and till then who knew The force of those dire arms ? yet not for those, Nor what the potent victor in his rage Can else inflict, do I repent or change, Though changed in outward lustre, that fixed mind, And high disdain from sense of injured merit, That with the mightiest raised me to contend, And to the fierce contention brought along Innumerable force of spirits armed, That durst dislike his reign, and me preferring, His utmost power with adverse power opposed In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven, And shook his throne. What though the field be lost? All is not lost ; the unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, j And courage never to submit or yield, ! And what is else not to be overcome ; That glory never shall his wrath or might Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace With suppliant knee, and deify his power, Who from the terror of tlu's arm so late Doubted his empire ; that were low indeed, That were an ignominy and shame beneath 1 The lord of flies, an idol worshipped at Ecron, a city of the Phi listines, 2 Kings i. 2. He is called " prince of the devils," Matt. xii. 24, therefore deservedly here made second to Satan himself. — Hume. 3 Satan, in HeV>~ew, means an enemy. * Rather, "and :-\m\ ruin," as Bentley rea«ls. 6 MILTON'S POETICAL WORKS. n. i. nc— 151 This downfall ; since by fate1 the strength of gods And this empyreal substance cannot fail, Since through experience of this great event In arms not worse, in foresight much advanced, We may with more successful hope resolve To wage by force or guile eternal war, Irreconcileable to our grand foe, Who now triumphs, and in the excess of joy Sole reigning holds the tyranny of Heaven." So spake the apostate angel, though in pain, Vaunting aloud, but racked with deep despair • And him thus answered soon his bold compeer. " 0 prince, 0 chief of many throned powers, That led the embattled seraphim to war . Under thy conduct, and in dreadful deeds Tearless, endangered Heaven's perpetual King, And put to proof his high supremacy, Whether upheld by strength, or chance, or fate , Too well I see and rue the dire event, That with sad overthrow and foul defeat Hath lost us Heaven, and all this mighty host In horrible destruction laid thus low, As far as gods and heavenly essences Can perish : for the mind and spirit remains Invincible, and vigour soon returns, Though all our ^nry e,ytinnt,. and happy state Here swallowed up in endless misery. But what if he our Cono^u^ror (whom I now Of force believe almighty, since no less Than such could have o'erpowered such force as ours) Have left us this our spirit and strength entire Strongly to suffer and support our pains, That we may so suffice his vengeful ire, Or do him mightier service as his thralls By right of war, whate'er his business be, Here in the heart of Hell to work in fire, 1 Satan supposes the angels to subsist by fate and necessity, and he represents them of an empyreal, that is & fiery substance, as the Scrip ture itself doth: "He maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire," Psalm civ. 4, Heb. i. 7. Satan disdains to submit, since the angels (as he says) are necessarily immortal, and cannot bo de stroyed, and sinco, too, they are now improved in experience, and m.iy hope to carry on the war more successfully, notwithstanding the present triumph of their adversary in Heaven. — Newlov 1.1.152-171. PA1UDI8K LOST, T Or do his errands in the gloomy deep , What can it then avail, though yet we feel Strength undiminished, or eternal being To undergo eternal punishment?" Whereto with speedy words the arch fiend replied " Fall'n cherub, to be weak is miserable Doing or suffering : but of this be sure, To do aught good never will be our task, But ever to do ill our sole delight, As being the contrary to his high will Whom we resist. If then his providence Out of our evil seek to bring forth good, Our labour must be to pervert that end, ' And out of good still to find means of evil ; Which oft-times may succeed, so as perhaps Shall grieve him, if I fail not, and disturb His inmost counsels from their destined aim But see ! the angry Victor hath recalled His ministers of vengeance l and pursuit Back to the gates of heaven : the sulphurous hail 1 Dr. Bentley has really made a very material objection to this and some other passages of the poem, wherein the good angels are repre sented as pursuing the rebel host with fire and thunderbolts down through Chaos even to the gates of Hell ; as being contrary to the account which the angel Raphael gives to Adam in the Sixth Book. And it is certain that there the good angels are ordered to " stand still only and behold," and the Messiah alone expels them out of Heaven ; and after he has expelled them, and Hell has closed upon them, vi. 880— " Sole victor from the expulsion of his fots, Messiah his triumphal chariot turned : To meet him all his saints, who silent stood Eye-witnesses of his almighty acts, With jubilee advanced." These accounts are plainly contrary the one to the other ; but the author does not therefore contradict himself, nor is one part of his Bcheme inconsistent with another. For it should be considered, who are the persons that give these different accounts. In Book vi., the angel Raphael is the speaker, and therefore his account may be depended upon as the genuine and exact truth of the matter. But in the other passages Satan himself or some of his angels are the speakers ; and they were too proud and obstinate ever to acknow ledge the Messiah for their conqueror ; as their rebellion was raised on his account, they would never own his superiority; they would rather ascribe their defeat to the whole host of Heaven than to him ; or if they did indeed imagine their pursuers to be so many MILTON S POETICAL WOBKS. B. Shot after us in storm, o'erblown Lath laid The fiery surge, that from the precipice Of Heaven received us falling ; and the thunder, Winged with red lightning and impetuous rage, Perhaps has spent his shafts, and ceases now To bellow through the vast and boundless deep. Let us not slip the occasion, whether scorn Or satiate fury yield it from our foe. Seest thou yon dreary plain, forlorn and wild, The seat of desolation, void of light, Save what the glimmering of these livid flames Casts pale and dreadful ? Thither let us tend From off the tossing of these fiery waves, There rest, if any rest can harbour there, And re-assembling our afflicted powers, Consult how we may henceforth most offend Our enemy ; our own loss how repair ; How overcome this dire calamity ; What reinforcement we may gain from hope, If not, what resolution from despair." Thus Satan, talking to his nearest mate, With head up-lift above the wave, and eyes That sparkling blazed ; his other parts besides Prone on the flood, extended long and large, Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge As whom the fables name of monstrous size, Titanian, or earth-born, that warred on Jove, Briareos, or Typhon, whom the den in number, their fears multiplied them, and it serves admirably to express how much they were terrified and confounded. In Book vi., 830, the noise of his chariot is compared to the " sound of a nume rous host ; " and perhaps they might think that a numerous host were really pursuing. In one place, indeed, we have Chaos speaking thus, ii. 996--. " and Heaven gates , Poured out by millions her victorious bands Pursuing." But what a condition was Chaos in during the fall of the rebel angels ? See vi. 871— " Nine days they fell ; confounded Chaos roared, And felt tenfold confusion in their fall Through his wild (inarchy, so huge a rout Incumbered him with ruin." We must suppose him therefore to speak according to his own frighted and disturbed imagination. — Newton. 9. l. 200— V». PAll.MUSK fOHT. By mini-lit Tin. -.us h.'M,1 or ; :ist Leviathan,- which (joJ oi' all his works Created hugest that swim the ocean stream : Him, haply slumbering on the Norway ib:nn, The pilot of some small night-foundered3 ski if Deeming some island, oft, as seamen tell, With fixed anchor in his scaly rind Moors by his side under the lee, while night Invests the sea, and wished morn delays : So stretched out huge in length the arch-lieml lay, Chained on the burning lake, nor ever thcm-i? Had risen or heaved his head, but that the will And high permission of all-ruling Heaven Left him at large to his own dark designs, 'That with reiterated crimes he might Heap on himself damnation, while he sought Evil to others, and enraged might see How all his malice served but to bring forth Infinite goodness, grace and mercy shown On man by him seduced ; but on himself Treble confusion, wrath and vengeance poured. Forthwith upright he rears, from oft1 the pool, His mighty nature ; on each hand the flames, Driven bactvvar37slope their pointing spires, and rolled In billows, leave i' the midst a horrid vale. Then with expanded wings he steers his flight Aloft, incumbent on the dusky air4 1 Typhon is the same with Typhoeus. That the den of Typhoeus was in Cilicia, of which Tarsus was a celebrated city, we are told by Pindar and Pomponius Mela. 2 Milton seems to regard the leviathan as identical with the whale. The various and conflicting opinions on the subject are well detailed by Barnes on Job, xli. 1. General conclusion seems in favour of the crocodile. As far as Milton is concerned. I think he had in mind the stories of the kraken, or some other gigantic species of cuttle-fish, which have been said to appear in the Norwegian seas. The reader will call to mind the similar story in " Sinbad the Sailor." See Lane's Arabian Nights. 3 i. e. overtaken by night, and thereby hindered from proceeding. 4 This conceit of the " air's feeling unusual weight" is borrowed frora Spenser, who, speaking of the old dragon, says, b. i. cant ii. st. 18 — " Then with his waving wings displayed wide, Himself up high he lifted from the ground, And with strong flight did forcibly divide The yielding air, which nigh too feeble found Her flitting parts, and element unsound, To bear BO greet ?. reight" 10 MILTON'S POETICAL WORKS. K 1.227- 202 That felt unusual weight, till on dry land He lights, if it were land that ever burned With solid, as the lake with liquid fire ; And such appeared in hue, as when the force Of subterranean wind1 transports a hill Torn from Pelorus, a or the shattered side Of thundering Etna, whose combustible And fuel'd entrails thence conceiving fire, Sublimed with mineral fury, aid the winds, And leave a singed bottom all involved With stench and smoke : such resting found the solo Of unblest feet. Him followed his next mate, Both glorying to have 'scaped the Stygian flood As gods, and by their own recovered strength, Not by the sufferance of supernal power. " Is this the region, this the soil, the clime," Said then the lost archangel, " this the seat That we must change for Heaven, this mournful gloom For that celestial light ? Be it so, since he Who now is Sovran3 can dispose and bid What shall be right : farthest from him is best, Whom reason hath equalled, force hath made supreme Above his equals. Farewell happy fields Where joy for ever dwells ! Hail horrors, hail Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell Eeceive thy new possessor ; one who brings A mind not to be changed by place or time. The mind is its own place, 4 and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but5 less than he Whom thunder hath made greater? Here at least We shall be free ; the Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence : Here we may reign secure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition though in Hell • 1 Rather read " winds," with Pearce. 2 The Cape di Faro, a promontory of Sicily, about a mile and a half from Italy.— See Virg. Mn, iii. 6 and 7. 3 So Milton rightly spells it, according to its derivation from the Italian sovrano. 4 These are some of the Stoical extravagances, placed by Milton iu the mouth of Satan, by way of ridicule. 5 Some read " albeit." I B. 263-289. PARADISE LOW. Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, The associates and copartners of our loss, Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool, And call them not to share with us their part In this unhappy mansion, or once more, With rallied arms, to try what may be yet .Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?" So Satan spake, and him Beel/ebub Thus answered. " Leader of those armies bright. Which but the Omnipotent none could have foiled. If once they hear that voice, their liveliest pledgo Of hope in fears and dangers, heard so oft In worst extremes, and on the perilous edge1 Of battle when it raged, in all assaults Their surest signal, they will soon resume New courage and revive, though now they lie Grovelling and prostrate on yon lake of lire, As we erewhile, astounded and amazed : No wonder, fallen such a pernicious height." He scarce had ceased when the superior fiend Was moving toward the shore ; his ponderous shield, Ethereal temper, massy, large, and round, Behind him cast ; the broad circumference Hung on his shoulders like the moon, whose orb Through optic glass2 the Tuscan artist views At evening from the top of "Fe sole, 1 From the Latin acies, which signifies both the edge of a weapon and an army drawn up in battle array. Or we may, with Newton, compare 2 Henry IV. act L— " You knew, he walked o'er perils, on an edge More likely to fall in than to get o'er." And 1 Henry IV. act i. — " I'll read you matter, deep and dangerous ; As full of peril and adventurous spirit, As to o'erwalk a current, roaring loud, On the unstedfast footing of a spear. Hot. If he fall in, good night, or sink or swim," 2 The shield of Satan was large as the moon seen through a tele scope, an instrument first applied to celestial observations by Galileo, a nutive of Tuscany, whom he means here by " the Tuscan artist," and afterwards mentions by name in v. 2(52 ; a testimony of his honour for so great a man, whom he had known and visited in Italy, as himself informs us in his " Areopagitica." — Newton. U M1LTONS POKTKUI. WOBKS 8.1.290—307- Or in Valdarno,1 to descry new lands, Kivers, or mountains in her spotty globe. His spear, to equal which the tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast2 Of some great ammiral,3 were but a wand, He walked with to support uneasy steps Over the burning marl, not like those steps On Heaven's azure, and the torrid clime Smote on him sore besides, vaulted with fire ; Nathless he so endured, till on the beach V)f tTiaT inflamed sea he stood, and called His legions, angel forms, who lay entranced Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks In Vallombrosa,4 where the Etrurian shades High over-arched imbower ; or scattered sedge Afloat, when with fierce winds Orion5 armed Hath vexed the Red Sea coast, whose waves o'erthrew Busiris6 and his Mernphian chivalry,7 1 i. e. the valley of the Arno, in Tuscany. 2 " These sons of Mavors bore (instead of spears), Two knotty masts which none but they could lift." Fair/ax's Tasso, vi. 40. 3 According to its German extraction, amiral, or amirael, says Hume ; from the Italian ammiraglio, says Richardson, more probably. Our author made choice of this, as thinking it of a better sound than admiral : and in Latin he -writes, ammiralatus curia, the court of admiralty. 4 A valley of Tuscany, remarkable for its cool and delightful shades. 5 Orion is a constellation represented in the figure of an armed man, and supposed to be attended with stormy weather, assurgens fluctu nimbosus Orion, Virg. ^En. i. 539. And the Red Sea abounds so much with sedge, that in the Hebrew Scripture it is called the Sedgy Sea. And he says "hath vexed the Red Sea coast" particu larly, because the wind usually drives the sedge in great quantities towards the shore. — Newton. 6 There is no historical authority for making Pharaoh Busiris ; but Milton was at liberty to borrow a common tradition respecting that king, and adapt it to his verse. 7 Chivalry (from the French chevalerie) signifies not only knight hood, but thase who use horses in fight, both such as ride on horses and such as ride in chariots drawn by them. In the sense of riding and fighting on horseback this word Chivalry is used in verse 76o, and in many places of Fairfax's Tasso, as in Cant. 5, st. 9. Cant. 8. st. 67. Cant. 20. st. 61. In the sense of riding and fighting in chariots drawn by horses, Milton uses the word chivalry in Parad. Reg. iii. ver. JUS. compared with ver. 328. — Pearce. I PARADISH I.08T. 13 While with periklious hatred1 they pursued The sojouruers of Goshen, who beheld From the safe shore their floating carcasses And broken chariot wheels : so thick bestrown, Abject and lost, lay these, covering the flood, Under amazement of their hideous change. He called so loud, that all the hollow deep Of Hell resounded. " Princes, potentates. Warriors, the flower of Heaven, once yours, now lost, If such astonishment as this can seize Eternal spirits; or have ye chosen this place After the toil of battle to repose Your wearied virtue, for the ease ye find ^MflW To slumber here, as in the vales of Heaven ? Or in this abject posture have ye sworn To adore the Conqueror ? who now beholds Cherub and seraph rolling in the flood j With scattered arms and ensigns, till anon ; His swift pursuers from Heaven gates discern < The advantage, and descending tread us down Thus drooping, or with linked thunderbolts Transfix us to the bottom of this gulf. Awake, arise, or be for ever fallen ! " They heard, and were abashed, and up they sprung Upon the wing, as when men, wont to watch On duty, sleeping found by whom they dread, Rouse and bestir themselves ere well awake. Nor did they not perceive the evil plight In which they were, or the fierce pains not feel , Yet to their general's voice they soon obeyed Innumerable. As when the potent rod . Of Amram's son,2 in Egypt's evil day, Waved round the coast, up called a pitchy cloud Of locusts, warping8 on the eastern wind, That o'er the realm of impious Pharaoh hung Like night, and darkened all the land of Nile : So numberless were those bad angels seen Hovering on wing under the cope of Hell Twixt upper, nether, and surrounding fires ; 1 Because Pharaoh, after leave given to the Israelites to depart, fol lowed after them like fugitives. — Hume. Kxocl. x. 13, sqq. * Working themse? ^es forward : a sea phrase. 14 MILTON'S POETICAL WORKS ». 1.347-3^ Till, at a signal given, the uplifted spear Of their great sultan waving to direct Their course, in even halance down they light On the firm brimstone, and fill all the plain ; A multitude, like which the populous north * Poured never from her frozen loins, to pass Rhene or the Danaw, when her barbarous sons Came like a deluge "on the south, and spread Beneath Gibraltar to the Lybian sands. Forthwith from every squadron and each band The heads and leaders thither haste where stood Their great commander ; godlike shapes and forms Excelling human, princely dignities, And powers that erst in Heaven sat on thrones ; Though of their names in heavenly records now Be no memorial, blotted out and rased By their rebellion from the books of life Nor had they yet among the sons of Eve Got them new names, till wandering o'er the earth, Through God's high sufferance, for the trial of man, By falsities and lies the greatest part 1 This comparison does not fall below the rest, as some have imagined. They were thick as the leaves, and numberless as the locusts, but such a multitude the north never poured forth ; and we may observe that the subject of this comparison rises very much above the others, leaves and locusts. The populous north, as the northern parts of the world are observed to be more fruitful of people than the hotter countries: Sir William Temple calls it "the northern hive." " Poured never," a very proper word to express the inundations of these northern nations. " From her frozen loins ; " it is the Scripture ex pression of children and descendants " coming out of the loins," as Gen. xxxv. 11, " Kings shall come out of thy loins ; " and these are called frozen loins only on account of the coldness of the climate. " To pass Rhene or the Danaw." He might have said, consistently with his verse, The Rhine or Danube, but he chose the more uncom mon names, Rhene, of the Latin, and Danaw, of the German, both which words are ased too in Spenser. " When her barbarous sons," &c. They were truly barbarous ; for besides exercising several cruel ties, they destroyed all the monuments of learning and politeness wherever they came. " Came like a deluge." Spenser, describing the same people, has the same simile. Faerie Queen, B. ii. cant. ] . st. 15. " And overflowed all countries far away, Like Noye's great flood, with their importune sway." They were the Goths, and Huns, and Vandals, who overran all the southern provinces of Europe. — Newton. i. I.SC8 -T/J2. PARADISE LOST. Of mankind they corrupted to forsake God their Creator, and the invisible Glory of him tint made them to transform Oft to the linage of a brute, adorned With gay religions full of pomp and gold, And devils to adore for deities ; Thm were they known to men by various names, And various idols through the heathen world. Say, Muse, their names then known, who first, who last, Roused from the slumber, on that fiery couch, At their great emperor's call, as next in worth Came singly where he stood on the bare strand, While the promiscuous crowd stood yet aloof. The chief were those who from the pit of Hell, Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix Their seats long after next the seat of God, Their altars by his altar, God's adored Among the nations round, and durst abide Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned Between the cherubim ;l yea, often placed Within his sanctuary itself their shrines, 3 Abominations ; and with cursed things His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned, And with their darkness durst affront his light. First Moloch,3 horrid king besmeared with blood 1 The ark of the covenant was placed between the golden cherubim. Compare 2 Kings xix. 15, " O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest botw.'en the cherubim." a See 2 Kings xxi. 4 ; Jer. vii. 80 ; Ezek. vii. 20, viii. 5, sq. 8 The name Moloch signifies king, and he is called "horrid" king, because of the human sacrifices which were made to him: This idol is supposed by some to be the same as Saturn, to whom the heathens (especially the Carthaginians, See Porphyr. de Abstin. ii. 27.) sacri ficed their children, and by others to be the sun. When it is said in Scripture that the children " passed through the fire to Moloch," we must not understand that they always actually burnt their children in honour of this idol, but sometimes made them only leap over the flames, or pass nimbly between two fires, to purify them by that lus tration, and consecrate them to this false deity. He was the god of the Ammonites, and is called " the abomination of the children of and, likewise, " in Argob and in Basan," neighbouring countries to Rabha, and subject to the Ammonites, as far as " to the stream of utmost Arnon." which river was the boundary of their country on the so-ith. — . MILTON S POETICAL WGKXS. :"•"• VSK4* /.'• Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears, Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud Their children's cries unheard, that passed through fire To his grim idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipped in Rabba and her watery plain, In Argob and in Basan, to the stream Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart Of Solomon he led by fraud to build His temple right against the temple of God On that opprobrious hill,1 and made his grove The pleasant valley of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna called, the type of Hell. Next ChemoSj2 the obscene dread of Moab's sons From Aroar to Nebo, and the wild Of southmost Abarim ; in Hesebon And Horonaim, Seon's realm, beyond The flowery dale of Sibma clad with vines, And Eleale to the Asphaltic pool. Peor his other name, when he enticed Israel in Sittim on their march from Nile To do him wanton rites, which cost them woe Yet thence his lustful orgies he enlarged Even to that hill of scandal,3 by the grove Of Moloch homicide, lust hard by hate ; Till good Josiah4 drove them thence to Hell. With these came they, who from the bordering flood 1 Solomon built a temple to Moloch on the Mount of Olives (1 Kings xi. 7), therefore called " that opprobrious hill ; " and high places and sacrifices were made to him " in the pleasant valley of Hinnom," Jer. vii. 31, which lay south-east of Jerusalem, and was called likewise Tophet, from the Hebrew, toph, a drum ; drums and such like noisy instruments being used to drown the cries of the miserable children who were offered to this idol ; and Gehenna, or " the valley of Hin nom," is in several places of the New Testament, and by our Saviour himself, made the name and type of Hell, by reason of the fire that was kept, up there to Moloch, and of the horrid groans and outcries of human sacrifices. — Newton. 2 God of the Moabites, 1 Kings xi. 7. 3 His high places were adjoining to those of Moloch, on the Mount of Olives, therefore called here " that hill of scandal," as before " that opprobrious hill," for " Solomon did build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, am] for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon," 1 K:ags xi. 7. 4 2Kingsxxiii. 13, sq. IX'.. * i«J. PARADISE LOST. 17 Of old l Euphrates to the brook that parts Egypt from Syrian grouncTThacT general names Of Baalim and Ashtaroth,3 those male, The"se lemmine. Jb'or spirits when they pleaso Can either sex assume, or both ; so soit And uncompounded is their essence pure, Not tied or manacled with joint or limb, Nor founded on the brittle strength of bones, Like cumbrous flesh ; but in what shape they choose, .Dilated or condensed, bright or obscure, Can execute their airy purposes, And works of love or enmity fulfil. For those the race of Israel oft forsook Their Jiving strength, and unfrequented left His righteous altar, bowing lowly down To bestial gods ; for which their heads as low Bowed down in battle, sunk before the spear Of despicable foes. With these in troop Came Astoreth,8 whom the Phosnicians called Astarte, Queen of Heaven, with crescent horns ; To whose bright image nightly by the moon Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs, In Sion also not unsung, where stood Her temple on the offensive mountain, built By that uxorious king, whose'heartTfliough largo, Beguiled by fail* idolatresses, fell To idols foul. Thammuz 4 came next behind, 1 Because this river is mentioned in the earliest records of time. — See Gen. ii. 14. 3 Probably the sun and the " host of heaven." 1 The goddess of the Phoenicians, and the moon was adored under this name. She is rightly said to " come in troop " with Ashtaroth, as she was one of them, the moon with the stars. Sometimes she is called " queen of heaven," Jer. vii. 18, and xliv. 17, 18. She is like wise called " the goddess of the Zidonians," 1 Kings xi. 5, " and the abomination of the Zidonians," 2 Kings xxiii. 13., as she was wor shipped very much in Zidon or Sidon, a famous city of the Phosni- ciarw, situated upon the Mediterranean. — Newton. 4 The account of Thammuz is finely romantic, and suitable to what we read among the ancients of the worship which was paid to that idol. Maundrell gives the following account of this ancient piece of worship, and probably the first occasion of such a superstition. " We came to a fair large river — doubtless the ancient river Adonis, so famous for the idolatrous rites performed here in lamentation of Adonis. \Y<- had the fortune to see what may be supposed to be the occasion of that opinion which Lucian relates, viz., that this stream, at certain IS MILTON'S POETICAL WOK KS. B. i. u7-t<59 • ,Vhose annual wound in Lebanon allured The Syrian damsels to lament his fate • In amorous ditties all a summer's day, While smooth Adonis from his native rock Ran purple to the sea, supposed with hlood Of Thammuz yearly wounded : the love-tale Infected Sion's daughters with like heat, Whose wanton passions in the sacred porch Ezekiel l saw, when by the vision led His eye surveyed the dark idolatries ^ Of alienated Judah. Next came one Who mourned in earnest, when the captive ark Maimed his brute image head and hands lopped off In his own temple, on the grunsel edge,2 Where he fell flat, and shamecTnis worshippers : Dagon his name, sea-monster, upward man And downward fish :3 yet had his temple high [Reared in Azotus, dreaded through the coast Of Palestine, in Gath and Ascalon, And Accaron and Gaza's frontier bounds. Him followed Eimmon,4 whose delightful seat "Was fair Damascus, OH the fertile banks Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams. He also 'gainst the house of God was bold : seasons of the year, especially about the feast of Adonis, is of a Woody colour, which the heathens looked upon as proceeding from a kind of sympathy in the river for the death of Adonis, who was killed by a wild boar in the mountains, out of which this stream rises. Some thing like this we saw actually come to pass ; for the water was stained to a surprising redness ; and as we observed in travelling, had discoloured the sea a great way into a reddish hue, occasioned, doubt less, by a sort of minium, or red earth, washed into the river by the Violence of the rain, and not by any stain from Adonis's blood." — Addison. Thammuz was the god of the Syrians, the same with Adonis, who, according to the traditions, died every year and revived again. He was slain by a wild boar in Mount Lebanon, from whence tue river Adonis descends ; and when this river began to be of a reddish hue, as it did at a certain season of the year, this was their signal for cele brating their Adonia, or feasts of Adonis, and the women made loud lamentations for him, supposing the river was discoloured with his blood. — Newton. 1 See Ezek. viii. 13, sq. 2 i. e. the threshold. See 1 Sam. v. 4. 3 See Layard's Nineveh, vol. ii. p. 407, note; niv.1 Calmct, p 235., o*" my edition. 4 llimmon was a god of the Syrians. I I 1. 470-60L VARAD1SE LOST. 19 A It-por once he lost,1 und gained a king, Alia/, liis sottish conqueror, whom he drew GfficTs altar to disparage and displace For one of Syrian mode, whereon to burn His odious offerings, and adore the gods Whom he had vanquished. After these appeared A crew who, under names of old renown, Osiris, Isis, Orus, and their train, Vvitli monstrous" shapes and sorceries abused Fanatic Egypt and her priests, to seek Their wandering gods disguised in brutish forms Rather than human. Nor did Israel 'scape The infection, when their borrowed gold composed The cdnnOret,) ; and the rebel king D oubled that sm in Bethel and in Dan,2 Likening his Maker to the grazed ox ; Jehovah, who in one night when he passed From Egypt marching, equalled with one stroke Both her first-bom and all her bleating gods.3 Belial came last, than whom a spirit more lewd Fell not from Heaven, or more gross to love Vice for itself : to him no temple stood Or altar smoked; yet who more oft than he In temples and at altars, when the priest / Turns atheist, as did Eli's sons, who filled With lust and violence the house of God ? In courts and palaces he also reigns And in luxurious cities, where the noise Of riot ascends above their loftiest towers, And injury and outrage : and when night Dai-kens the streets, then wander forth the sons ^ Naaman, who, on account of his cure, resolved henceforth to " offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice to any other god, but unto the Lord," 2 Kings v. 17. 2 Great, however, as was the sin of the Israelites in setting up these calves, it has been well observed by Dean Graves (on the Pentateuch) part iii. lect. ii., that " such relapses into idolatry never implied a re jection of Jehovah as their God, or of the Mosaic law, as if they doubted its truth. The Jewish idolatry consisted, first, in worship- lie true God by symbols ; but, in every one of these instances, f.ir from rejecting Jehovah as their God, the images, symbols, and rites employed were designed to honour him, by imitating the manner iu which the most distinguished nations the Jews were acquainted vrilh worshipped their divinities." 3 Alluding to the worship of Ammon under the form of a ram. 20 MILTON'S POETICAL WOUKS. s. i. 602—524. Of Belial.1 Iknvn2 with insolence and wine. Witness the streets of Sodom, and that night In Gibeah, when the hospitable door Exposed a matron3 to avoid worse rape. These were the prime in order and in might ; The rest were long to tell, though far renowned, The Ionian gods,4 of Javan's issue ; held Gods, yet confessed later than Heaven and Earth, Their boasted parents; Titan, Heaven's first-born, With his enormous brood, and birthright seized By younger Saturn; he from mightier Jove, His own and Ehea's son, like measure found; So Jove usurping reigned ; these first in Crete And Ida known, thence on the snowy top Of cold Olympus ruled the middle air, Their highest Heaven ; or on the Delphian cliff, Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds Of Doric land ; or who with Saturn old Fled over Adria to the Hesperian fields, , And o'er the Celtic roamed the utmost isles All these and more came flocking ; but with looks Downcast and damp, yet such wherein appeared Obscure some glimpse of joy, to have found their chief 1 See Calmet, p. 141, of my edition. 2 t. e. heightened, excited. 3 Gen. xix. 8. 4 Javan, the fourth son of Japhet, is supposed to have settled in the south-west part of Asia Minor, about Ionia, which contains the radical letters of his name. His descendants were the lonians and Grecians ; and the principal of their gods were Heaven and Earth. Titan was their eldest son ; he was father of the giants, and his empire was seized by his younger brother Saturn, as Saturn's was by Jupiter, son of Saturn and Rhea. These first were known in the island Cre^e, now Candia, in which is Mount Ida, where Jupiter is said to have been born ; thence passed over into Greece, and resided on Mount Olympus, in Thessaly ; " the snowy top of cold Olympus," as Homer calls it, which mountain afterwards became the name of Heaven among their worshippers; "or on the Delphian cliff," Parnassus, whereon was seated the city Delphi, famous for the temple and oracle of Apollo; "or in Dodona," a city and wood adjoining, sacred to Jupiter ; " and through all the bounds of Doric laud," that is, of Greece, Doris being a part of Greece; "or fled over Adria," the Adriatic, "to the Hesperian fields," to Italy; "and o'er the Celtic," France and the other countries overrun by the Celtes, " roamed the utmost isles," Great Britain, Ireland, the Orkneys, Thule, or Iceland, * Ultima Thule," as it is called, the utmost boundary of the world. — Newton. B. I. t>2b-OS>3. PAlUmSK 21 Not in (K-sjuiir, to h;mi i'oumi 9 not, lost In loss itsi'll'; whL'h on his co;; • -;;.->t Like doubtful hue ; but he his wonted pride Soon recollecting, with high words, that bore Semblance of worth not substance, gently raised Their fainting courage, and dispelled their fe:uv. Then straight commands that at the warlike sound Of trumpets loud and clarions l be upreared His mighty standard ; that proud honour claimed A/a/el,2 as his right, a cherub tall, Who forthwith from the glittering staff unfurled The imperial ensign, which, full high advanced, Shone like a meteor streaming to the wind, With gems and golden lustre rich emblazed, Seraphic arms and trophies ; all the while Sonorous metal blowing martial sounds ; At which the universal host up sent A shout, that tore Hell's concave, and beyond Frighted the reign of Chaos and old Night. All in a moment through the gloom were seen Ten thousand banners rise into the air With orient colours waving ; with them rose A forest huge of spears,3 and thronging helms Appeared, and serried 4 shields in thick array Of depth immeasurable ; anon they move . In perfect phalanx to the Dorian 5 mood Of flutes and soft recorders ; such as raised To height of noblest temper heroes old Arming to battle, and instead of rage Deliberate valour breathed, firm and unmoved With dread of death to flight or foul retreat; Nor wanting power to mitigate and 'suage With solemn touches troubled thoughts, and chase Anguish and doubt, and fear, and sorrow, and pain, 1 Small, shrill, treble trumpets. * Not the scapegoat, but some demon. * So Tasso, describiii},' the Christian and Pagan armies preparing to engage, Cant. 20, st. 28. " Of dry-topped oaks they seemed two forests thick ; So did each host with spears and pikes abound." Fairfax. Try ft. 4 i. e. locked closely together. 1 i. e. grave or serious, such being the characteristic of Dorias- harmony. 2!i MILTON S POETICAL WORKS. B 1.169—576. From mortal or immortal minds. Thus they, Breathing united force, with fixed thought, Moved on in silence to soft pipes, that charmed Their painful steps o'er the burnt soil ; and now Advanced in view they stand, a horrid front Of dreadful length ancl dazzling arms, in guise Of warriors old with ordered spear and shield, Awaiting what command their mighty chief Had to impose. He through the armed files Darts his experienced eye, and soon traverse The whole battalion views, their order due, Their visages and stature as of gods ; Their number last he sums. And now his heart Distends with pride, and hardening in his strength Glories ; for never since created man, Met such embodied force, as, named with these, Could merit more than that small infantry Warred on by cranes ; l though all the giant brood 1 All the heroes and armies that ever were assembled were no more than pigmies in comparison with these angels ; " though all the giant brood of Phlegra," a city of Macedonia, where the giants fought with the gods, " with the heroic race were joined that fought at Thebes," a city of Boeotia, famous for the war between the sons of (Edipus, celebrated by Statius in his Thebaid, " and Ilium," made still more famous by Homer's Iliad, where " on each side" tl?e heroes were assisted by the gods, therefore called " auxiliar gods ; and what resounds" even "in fable or romance of Uther's son," king Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, whose exploits are romantically ex tolled by Geoffry of Monmouth, " begirt with British and Armoria knights," for he was often in alliance with the king of Armorica, since tailed Bretagne, of the Britons who settled there ; " and all who since Rousted in Aspramont, or Montalban," romantic names of places ffcentioned in Orlando Furioso, the latter, perhaps, Montauban in France, " Damasco or Marocco," Damascus or Morocco, but he calls them as they are called in romances ; " or Trebisond," a city of Cappa- docia, in the Lesser Asia ; all these places are famous in romances, for joustings between the " baptized and infidels ; or whom Biserta," formerly called Utica, "sent from Afric shore," that is, the Saracens who passed from Biserta, in Africa, to Spain, " when Charlemagne with all his peerage fell by Fontarabia," Charlemagne, king of France and emperor of Germany, about the year 800, undertook a war against the Saracens in Spain ; and Mariana and the Spanish his torians are Milton's authors for saying that he and his army were routed in this manner at Fontarabia (which is a strong town in Biscay at the very entrance into Sp&m, and esteemed the key of the kingdom) ; but Mezeray and the French writers give a quite different and more probable account of him, that he was at last victorious over his enemies and died in peace. — Newton. ,j. 677-617. I'ARADISE LOST. 23 ( )f I'hli'gra witli the licroic race were joined That fought at Thebes and Ilium, on each side Mixed with auxiliar gods; and what resounds In fable or romance of Uthcr's son Begirt with British and Armoric knights, And all who since, baptized or infidel, Jousted in Asprainont or Montalban, Damasco, or Marocco, or Trebisond, Or whom Biserta sent from Afric shore, When Charlemagne with all his peerage fell By Fontarabia. Thus far these beyond Compare of mortal prowess, yet observed /' Their dread commander ; he above the rest In shape and gesture proudly eminent Stood like a tower ; his form had yet not lost All its original brightness, nor appeared Less than archangel ruined, and the excess Of glory obscured ; as when the sun new risen Looks through the horizontal misty air Shorn of his beams, or from behind the moon In dim eclipse disastrous twilight sheds On half the nations, and with fear of change Perplexes monarchs. Darkened so, yet shone Above them all the archangel ; but his face Deep scars of thunder had entrenched, and care Sat on his faded cheek, but under brows Of dauntless courage, and considerate pride Waiting revenge ; cruel his eyes, but cast Signs of remorse and passion to behold The fellows of his crime^the followers rather -- - (Far other once beheld in bliss) condemned For ever now to have their lot in pain, Millions of spirits for his fault amerced • Of Heaven, and from eternal splendours flung For his revolt ; yet faithful how they stood, Their glory withered: as when Heaven's fire Hath scathed2 the, forest oaks, or mountain pines, With singed top their stately growth, though bare, Stands on the blasted heath. He now prepared To speak ; whereat their doubled ranks they bend wing to wing, and half enclose him round 1 Deprived, robbed of, taken away from. 2 Hurt, injured. 24 MILTON'S POETICAL WORKS B ;. 618-643. With all his peers : attention held them mute. Thrice ho assayed, and thrice, in spite of scorn, Tears, such as angels weep,1 burst forth : at last Words interwove with sighs found out their way. " 0 myriads of immortal spirits ! 0 powers Matchless hut with the Almighty ; and that strife Was not inglorious, though the event was dire, As this place testifies, and this dire change, Hateful to utter : but what power of mind Foreseeing or presaging, from the depth Of knowledge past or present, could have feared, How such united force of gods, how such As stood like these, could ever know repulse ? For who can yet believe, though after loss, That all these puissant legions, whose exile Hath emptied Heaven,2 shall fail to reascend Self-raised, and repossess their r»ative seat? For me be witness all the host of Heaven, If counsels different, or danger shunned By me, have lost our hopes. But He who reigns Monarch in Heaven, till then as one secure Sat on his throne, upheld by old repute, Consent or custom, and his regal state Put forth at full, but still his strength concealed, Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall. Henceforth his might we know, and know our own, So as not either to provoke, or dread New war, provoked ; our better part remains To work in close design, by fraud or guile, What force effected not : that he no less U length from us may find, who overcomes 1 " Tears, such as angels -weep," like Homer's ichor of the gods, which was different from the blood of mortals. This weeping of Satan on surveying his numerous host, and the thoughts of their wretched state, puts one in mind of the story of Xerxes weeping on seeing his vast army, and reflecting that they were mortal, at the time that he was hastening them to their fate, and to the intended destruction of the greatest people in the world, to gratify his own. vain glory. — Newton. 2 It is conceived that a third part of the angels fell with Satan, according to Rev. xii. 4.: " And his tail drew the third part of the stars of "Heaven, and cast them to the earth;" and this opinion Milton has expressed in several places, ii. 692, v. 710, vi. 156 ; but Satan here talks big and magnifies their number, as if their " exile had emptied Heaven." 8. I. «49-<373. PARADISE LOiT. 26 By force, hath overcomo but half his foe. Space may produce new worlds ; whereof to rise There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long Intended to create, and therein plant A generation, whom his choice regard Should favour equal to the sons of Heaven : Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps Our first eruption : thither or elsewhere ; For this infernal pit shall never hold Celestial spirits in bondage, nor the abyss Long under darkness cover. But these thoughts Full counsel must mature: peace is despaired, For who can think submission? War, then, war, Open or understood, must be resolved." He spake ; and to confirm his words, out flew Millions of flaming swords, drawn from the thighs Of mighty cherubim ; the sudden blaze Far round illumined Hell : highly they raged Against the highest, and fierce with grasped arms1 Clashed on their sounding shields the din of war, Hurling defiance toward the vault of Heaven. There stood a hill not far, whose grisly top Belched fire and rolling smoke ; the rest entire Shone with a glossy scurf, undoubted sign That in his womb2 was hid metallic ore, The work of sulphur.3 Thither, winged with speed, A numerous brigade hastened : as when bands Of pioneers with spade and pickaxe armed Forerun the royal camp, io trench a field, Or cast a rampart. Mammon4 led them on, 1 The known custom of the Roman soldiers, when they applauded • speech of their general, was to smite their shields with thei* swords. — Bentley. 2 This word is constantly used in the masculine gender by Chaucer. 3 For metals are supposed to consist of two essential parts or principles ; mercury, as the basis or metallic matter; and sulphur as the binder or cement, which fixes the fluid mercury into a coherent malleable mass. And so Ben Jonson in the " Alchemist," act. ii. •cene 3. : — 11 It turns to sulphur, or to quicksilver, Who are the parents of all other metals." — Newton. * This name is Syriac, and signifies riches. " Ye cannot serve God and Mammon," says our Saviour, Matt. vi. 24. and bids us " make to ourselves friends of tho Mammon of unrighteousness," Luke xvi. 9. — MILTON s POETICAL WORKS, a.i.679 -7lt Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell From Heaven, for even in Heaven his looks and thought? Were always downward bent, admiring more The richest of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold, Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed In vision beatific : by him first Men also, and by his suggestion taught, Ransacked the centre, and with impious hands Bifled the bowels of their mother earth For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew Opened into the hill a spacious wound, And digged out ribs of gold. Let none admire That riches grow in Hell ; that soil may best Deserve the precious bane. And here let those Who boast in mortal things, and wondering tell Of Babel and the works of Memphian kings, Learn how their greatest monuments of fame And strength and art are easily outdone By spirits reprobate, and in an hour What in an age they with incessant toil And hands innumerable l scarce perform. Nigh on the plain in many cells prepared, That underneath had veins of liquid fire Sluiced from the lake, a second multitude With wondrous art founded the massy ore, Severing each kind, and scummed the bullion dross:5* A third as soon had formed within the ground A various mould, and from the boiling cells By strange conveyance filled each hollow nook, As in an organ3 from one blast of wind To many a row of pipes the sound-board breathes Anon out of the earth a fabric huge Hose like an exhalation, with the sound Of dulcet symphonies and voices sweet, Built like a temple, where pilasters round Were set, and Boric pillars overlaid 1 There were 360,000 men employed for nearly twenty years upon a single pyramid. 2 Bullion is here an adjective. The sense is : " they founded or netted the ore that was in the mass, by separating or severing each kind, that is, the sulphur, earth, &c., from the metal; and after that .hey scummed the dross that floated on the top of the burning ore,"— Pearce. * On which instrument Milton was himself a performer. I M* I 71&-740. PA11AD1SE LOST 27 With golden architrave ; nor did tht'iO want Cornice or frieze, with bossy sculptures graven ; The roof was fretted gold. Not Babylon, Nor great Alcairo l such magnificence Equalled in all their glories, to inshrine Belus or Serapis2 their gods, or seat Their kings, when Egypt with Assyria strove In wealth and luxury. The ascending pile Stood fixed her stately height, and straight the doors Opening their brazen folds discover wide Within, her ample spaces, o'er the smooth And level pavement : from the arched roof Pendent by subtle magic many a row Of starry lamps and blazing cressets 3 fed With naphtha and asphaltus yielded light As from a sky. The hasty multitude Admiring entered ; and the work some praise, And some the architect : his hand was known In Heaven by many a towered structure high, Where sceptred angels held their residence, And sat as princes, whom the Supreme King Exalted to such power, and gave to rule, Each in his hierarchy, the orders bright. Nor was his name unheard or unadored In ancient Greece ; and in Ausonian land Men called him Mulciber ; and how he fell4 1 This introduction of a modern name is rather clumsy. 2 Belus the son of Nimrod, second king of Babylon, and the first man worshipped for a god, by the Chaldamns styled Bel, by the Phrenicians, Baal. Serapis, the same with Apis, the god of the Egyptians. — Hume. * A cresset is any great blazing light, as a beacon. So Shakspeare 1 Hen. IV. act. iii. :— " at my nativity The front of Heaven was full of fiery shapes, Of burning cressets." 4 Compare Homer, II. i., where Vulcan (the same as Mulciber) describes his misfortune : — * Once in your cause I felt his matchless might, Hurled headlong downward, from the ethereal height, Tost all the day in rapid circles round ; Nor, till the sun descended, touched the ground; Breathless I fell, in giddy motion lost ; The Sinthians raised me on the Lemnian coast." — Pope. 23 MILTON'S POETICAL WORKS. u. i. 741—771. From Heaven, they fabled, thrown by angry Jove Sheer o'er the crystal battlements ; from morn To noon he fell, from noon to dewy eve, A summer's day ; and witli the setting sun Dropped from the zenith like a falling star, On Lemnos the jEgean isle : thus they relate, En-ing ; for he with this rebellious rout Fell long before ; nor aught availed him now To have built in Heaven high towers; nor did he 'seapo By all his engines,1 but was headlong sent With his industrious crew to build in Hell. Meanwhile the winged heralds by command Of sovereign power, with awful ceremony And trumpet's sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council forthwith to be held At Pandemonium, the high capital Of Satan and his peers : their summons called From every band and squared regiment By place or choice the worthiest ; they anon With hundreds and with thousands trooping came Attended: all access was thronged, the gates And porches wide, but chief the spacious hall (Though like a covered field, where champions bold Wont ride in armed, and at the Soldan's chair Defied the best of Panim2 chivalry To mortal combat, or career with lance), Thick swarmed, both on the ground and in the air Brushed with the hiss of rustling wings. As bees 3 In spring time, when the sun with Taurus rides, Pour forth their populous youth about the hive In clusters ; they among fresh dews and flowers Fly to and fro, or on the smoothed plank, The suburb of their straw -built citadel, New rubbed with balm, expatiate and confer Their state affairs. So thick the airy crowd 1 i. e. means, contrivances. * Pagan. * " As from some rocky clift the shepherd sees Clustering in heaps on heaps the driving bees, Rolling, and blackening, swarms succeeding swarms, With deeper murmurs and more hoarse alarms ; Dusky they spread, a close embodied crowd, And o'er the vale descends the living cloud." — Pope's Iliad, hook ii. . \ • i 7, 6-798. PARADISE LOST. 29 Swarmed and were straitened ; till, the signal given, Behold a wonder ! they but now who seemed In bigness to surpass earth's giant sons Now less than smallest dwarfs, in narrow room Throng numberless, like that pygmean race Beyond the Indian mount, or fairy elves, Whose midnight revels by a forest side Or fountain some belated peasant sees, Or dreams he sees, while overhead the moon1 Sits arbitress, and nearer to the earth Wheels her pale course ; they, on their mirth and dance Intent, with jocund music charm his ear ; At once with joy and fear his heart rebounds. Thus incorporeal spirits to smallest forms Reduced their shapes immense, and were at large, Though without number still amidst the hall Of that infernal court. But far within, And in their own dimensions like themselves, The great seraphic lords and cherubim In close recess and secret conclave sat, A thousand demigods on golden seats, Frequent and full.2 After short silence then Ancf summons read, the great consult began. 1 This alludes to the part which the moon is supposed to play in the revels of elves and fairies. 2 So we have in Latin frequent tenalus, a full house. And he makes use of the same expression in English prose. " The assembly was full and frequent according to summons." See his History of England in the reign of Edward the Confessor. — Newton. END OF THR FTT18T MILTON'S POETICAL WORKS. u. n. 1— «, BOOK II. THE ARGUMENT. The consultation begun, Satan debates whether another battle be to be hazarded for the recovery of Heaven: some advise it, others dissuade : a third proposal is preferred, mentioned before by Satan, to search the truth of that prophecy or tradition in Heaven con cerning another world, and another kind of creature equal or not much inferior to themselves, about this time to be created: their doubt who should be sent on this difficult search: Satan their chief undertakes alone the voyage, is honoured and applauded. The council thus ended, the rest betake them several ways, and to several employments, as their inclinations lead them, to entertain the time till Satan return. He passes on his journey to Hell- gates, finds them shut, and who sat there to guard them, by whom at length they are opened, and discover to him the great gulf between Hell and Heaven ; with what difficulty he passes through, directed by Chaos, the power of that place, to the sight of this new world which he sought. HIGH on a throne of royal state, which far Outshone the wealth of Ormus1 and of Ind, Or where the gorgeous east2 with richest hand Showers on her kings harbaric pearl and gold, Satan exalted sat, by merit raised To that bad eminence ; and from despair 1 An island in the Persian Gulf, celebrated for its wealth in diamonds. 2 Not that Ormus and Ind were in the west, but the sense is that the throne of Satan outshone diamonds, or pearls and gold, the choicest whereof are produced in the east. Spenser expresses the same thought thus, F. Q. iii. 4, 23. " that it did pass The wealth of th' east, and pomp of Persian kings." And the east is said to (i shower them on her kings," in allusion to the ». M.7--8S. PARADISE LOST. SI Tims high uplifted h'-ynnd liopr, ii spires Beyond thus lii^li. insitiate to pursue Vain war with Heaven, and by success uutaugnt His proud imaginations thus displnyed " Powers and dominions,1 deities of Heaven, For since no deep within her gulf can hold Immortal vigour, though oppressed and fallen, I give not Heaven for lost. From this descent Celestial virtues rising, will appear More glorious and more dread than from no fall, And trust themselves to fear no second fate. Me, though just right, and the fixed laws of Heaven, Did first create your leader, next free choice, "With what besides, in council or in fight, Hath been achieved of merit, yet this loss, Thus far at least recovered, hath much more Established in a safe unenvied throne Yielded with full consent. The happier state In Heaven, which follows dignity, might draw Envy from each inferior ;3 but who here Will envy whom the highest place exposes Foremost to stand against the Thunderei's aim Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share Of endless pain ? Where there is then no good For which to strive, no strife can grow up there faction ; for none sure will claim in Hell >m used at the coronation of some kings in the east, of shower ing gold and precious stones upon their heads. And the same sort of metaphor is used in Shakespear, Ant. and Cleop. act. ii. " I'll set thee in a shower of gold, and hail Rich pearls upon thee." And this pearl and gold is called " barbaric pearl and gold," after th* manner of the Greeks and Romans, who accounted all other nation* barbarous ; as Virgil, ^En. ii. 504. " Barbarico postes auro spoliisque superbi." tnd ^En. viii. 685. " Hinc ope barbarica variisqua Antonius armis Victor ab aurorse populis."— Newton. >Cf. Coloss.i. 16. * He means that the higher in dignity any being was in heaven, the happier his state was; and that therefore inferiors might there envy tnperiors, because they were happier too. — Pearcc. a MILTON S POETICAL WORKS. B. II. 53-70. .Precedence ; hone,1 whose portion is so small Of present pain, that with ambitious mind Will covet more. With this advantage then To union, and firm faith, and firm accord, More than can be in Heaven, we now return To claim our just inheritance of old, Surer to prosper than prosperity Could have assured us ; and by what best way, Whether of open war or covert guile, We now debate : who can advise, may speak." He ceased ; and next him Moloch, sceptred king, Stood up, the strongest and the fiercest spirit That fought in Heaven, now fiercer by despair . His trust was with the Eternal to be deemed Equal in strength, and rather than be less Cared not to be at all ; with that care lost Went all his fear : of God, or Hell, or worse, He reck'd not,2 and these words thereafter spake. \ " My sentence is for open war : of wiles, \ More inexpert, I boast not f them let those Contrive who need, or when they need, not now For while they sit contriving, shall the rest, Millions that stand in arms, and longing wait The signal to ascend, sit lingering here Heaven's fugitives, and for their dwelling-place Accept this dark opprobrious den of shame, The prison of his tyranny, who reigns By our delay ? No, let us rather choose, Armed with Hell's flames and fury, all at once O'er Heaven's high towers to force resistless way, Turning our tortures into homd'ai'ms Against the torturer ; when to meet the noise Of his almighty engine he shall hear Infernal thunder, and for lightning see Black fire and horror shot with equal rage Among his angels, and his throne itself, Mixed with Tartarean sulphur, and strange fire, His own invented torments. But, perhaps, 1 Read and point thus : — " none. Whose portion is so small Of present pain that with ambitious mind He'll covet more ? With."— Bentley. • Cared not. . TI. 71-:08. PAIUDISE TOST 93 The way seeuis diilicult and steep to scale With upright wing against a higher foe. Let such bethink them, if the sleepy drench Of that forgetful lake benumn not still, That in our proper motion we ascend I*], to our native seat: descent and fall To us is adverse. Who but felt of late, When the fierce foe hung on our broken rear Insulting, and pursued us through the deep, With what compulsion and laborious flight We sunk thus low ? The ascent is easy then , The event is feared : should we again provoke Our stronger, some worse way his wrath may find To our destruction ; if there be in hell Fear to be worse destroyed : what can be worse Than to dwell here, driven ouTTrorn bliss, condemned In this abhorred deep to utter woe ; Where pain of unextinguishable fire Must exercise1 us without hope of end, The vassals2 of his anger, when the scourge Inexorable, and the torturing hour, Calls us to penance ? More destroyed than thus We should be quite abolished and expire What fear we, then ? what doubt we to incense His utmost ire ? which, to the height enraged, » "V\ ill either quite consume us, and reduce To nothing this essential (happier far5 Than miserable to have eternal being) : Or if our substance be indeed divine, And cannot cease to be, we are at worst On this side nothing ; and by proof wo feel Our power sufficient to disturb his heaven, And with perpetual inroads to alarm, Though inaccessible, his fatal throne :4 Which, if not^YJetcucy, is yet revenge." He enoTecllrowning, aSoTiis look denounced Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous To less than gods * On the other side up rose 1 Harass, torture. 2 Or, perhaps, " vessels," from Eom. ii. 22. — Beni'uy. » Cf. Matt. xxvi. 24. Mark xiv. 21. 4 i. e. his throne upheld by fate. 9 i. e. angels. Si MILION'S POETICAL WOniCS. B. il. 100 -U& Belial, in act more graceful and humane , A fairer person lost not Heaven ; he seemed For dignity composed and high exploit : But all was false and hollow ; though his tongue Dropped manna,1 and could make the worse appear 3 The better reason, to perplex and dash Maturest counsels, for his thoughts were low, To vice industrious, but to nobler deeds Timorous and slothful ; yet he pleased the ear, And with persuasive accent thus began. " I should be much for open war, 0 peers, As not behind in hate ; if what was urged Main reason to persuade immediate war, Did not dissuade me most, and seem to cast Ominous conjecture on the whole success ; "When he who most excels in fact of arms,8 In what he counsels and in what excels Mistrustful, grounds his courage on despair And utter dissolution, as the scope Of all his aim, after some dire revenge First, what revenge ? The towers of Heaven are filled With armed watch, that render all access Impregnable ; oft on the Ordering deep Encamp their legions, 01 with obscure wing Scout far and wide into the realm of night, Scorning surprise. Or could we break our way By force, and at our heels all Hell should rise With blackest insurrection, to confound Heaven's purest light, yet our great enemy All incorruptible would on his throne Sit unpolluted, and the ethereal mould Incapable of stain would soon expel Her mischief, and purge off the baser fire Victorious. Thus repulsed, our final hope Is flat despair ; we must exasperate The Almighty Victor to spend all his rago. And that must end us ; that must be our cure, 1 So, Shakspeare, Merchant of Venice, act v. " Fair ladie, you drop m^nna in the way Of starved people." 2 This AVRS the -\vell known profession of the Sophists, rfc Xoyo* TOV fJTTli) tCOtlTTtt) TTOilLV. » Deed. I 0. s:. 145— 186. PARADISIC LOST. To be no more — sad cure ! for who would lose, Though full of pain, this intellectual being, Those thoughts that wander through eternity, To perish rather, swallowed up and lost In the wide womb of uncreated night, Devoid of sense and motion ? And who knows, Let this be good, whether our angry foe Can give it, or will ever? how he can, Is doubtful ; that he never will, is sure "Will he, so wise, let loose at once his ire, Belike through impotence,1 or unaware, To give his enemies their wish, and end Them in his anger, whom his anger saves To punish endless ? Wherefore cease we then ? Say they who counsel war, we are decreed, Reserved, and destined to eternal woe ; Whatever doing, what can we suffer more, What can we suffer worse ? Is this then worst, Thus fitting, thus consulting, thus in arms? What when we fled amain, pursued and struck With Heaven's afflicting thunder, and besought The deep to shelter us? this Hell then seemed A rei'uge from those wounds : or when we lay Chained on the burning lake ? that sure was worse, What if the breath 2 that kindled those grim fires, * Awaked should blow them into sevenfold rage, And plunge us in the flames ? or from above Should intermitted vengeance arm again His red right hand * to plague us? what if all Her stores were opened, and this firmament Of Hell should spout her cataracts of fire, Impendent horrors, threatening hideous fall One day upon our heads ; while we, perhaps, Designing or exhorting glorious war, Caught in a fiery tempest shall be hurled Each on his rock transfixed, the sport and prey Of racking whirlwinds, or for ever sunk Under yon boiling ocean, wrapt in chains; There to converse with everlasting groans, TJnrespited, unpitied, unreprieved, 1 i. e. weakness of mind, vrant of self-restraint. a Cf. Is. xix. 33. * " Et rubenti dextera sacras jaculatus arces." — Her. 0